2025 Pilgrimage: “Journeying with St. Angela to Jiaping”

19/05/2025

The year 2025 marks the 125th anniversary of the Ursuline Roman Union and is also a Jubilee Year in the Catholic Church. Responding to Pope Francis’ invitation to become “Pilgrims of Hope”, the Sisters of the Ursuline Community in Kaohsiung, Taiwan in collaboration with Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages, organized a special pilgrimage called “Journeying with St. Angela to Jiaping.” Like our foundress, St. Angela Merici, we are also called to be pilgrims on a journey of faith.

This pilgrimage gathered around 50 participants, including Sisters, youth from the parish, and faculty and students from Wenzao. We first visited the Jiaping Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, a recently completed church located in an indigenous village in the mountainous region of Pingtung. The church’s design beautifully combines various architectural styles, dazzling all who entered with its unique charm.

During the Mass, the presiding priest encouraged us to live as hopeful pilgrims in our daily lives. After the Eucharist, we shared a traditional indigenous-style lunch. The meal was filled with joyful conversations, echoing the warmth and fellowship of Jesus dining with His disciples. 

In the afternoon, we began our walking pilgrimage from Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Jiaping to St. John Vianney’s Catholic Church in Kulaluce. Along the way, we prayed the Rosary and meditated on the Passion of Christ. After about an hour of walking, we were warmly welcomed by the local faithful upon our arrival at the destination, deeply experiencing the unity of the Christian family.

Through this pilgrimage, we the Sisters, the members of the church and the students deepened our bonds, planted seeds of hope in each other’s hearts, and committed to accompanying one another as fellow pilgrims journeying toward God.